On March 15th of this year, Abdullah Kuran, age 11, was asked to carry several bags through an Israeli checkpoint at the Gaza border and hand them to a woman waiting on the other side for five shekels ($1.00 U.S.) Unaware that one of the bags contained a 10-kilo bomb, he was stopped by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) who discovered it during a routine inspection.

When his handlers (who were watching in the crowds on the Gaza side) saw that the boy had been stopped, they tried to blow him up through a cell phone connected to the bomb, but the bomb failed to explode. The IDF later sent him back to his parents. The officer-in-charge, Lt.-Col. Guy, explained to the media, "We're not going to do anything with a boy like that, an innocent kid trying to earn his daily bread."

Back home, Abdullah now says he does not believe the Israeli army's version, that the bag he was carrying contained explosives. "They are lying," he said. "I never saw a bomb. If the bag really contained a bomb, why did they release me?" A teacher at Kuran's school said the majority of the camp residents are convinced that Israel made up the story. A Palestinian cab driver told the Jerusalem Post, "I think the Israelis planted the bomb there. The Palestinian groups are much more responsible and they would never do such a thing."

Nine days later, at the same checkpoint, Israeli soldiers caught a 14 year-old boy, Husam Abdu, on his way to be a suicide bomber. This time Lt.-Col. Guy told the press, "The boy was fully aware of what he was to do and told us he received NIS 100 ($22.00) and was instructed to blow himself up near soldiers. The IDF's quick action not only saved their own lives but those of 200 Palestinian men, women and children who were at the roadblock." The whole incident was recorded on video.

When questioned, the boy explained why he did it. "They told me suicide is the only chance I've got to have sex with 72 virgins in the Garden of Eden."

Now listen to this! The BBC, reported the incident and accused Israel of abusing the child by letting the media air the attempted suicide.

In fact, the BBC's account was so brutally anti-Israel that Israel's Cabinet Member Natan Sharansky sent a letter to the BBC stating that BBC correspondent, Orla Guerin, employed a "gross double standard to the Jewish State that smacks of anti-Semitism," when she used "an attempted suicide attack by a child to point cynically to Israel's attempt to manipulate the media."

Sharansky wrote the BBC that such an approach "reveals a deep-seated bias against Israel. Only a total identification with the goals and methods of the Palestinian terror group would drive a reporter to paint Israel in such an unflattering light instead of placing the focus on the bomber and the organization that recruited him," he said.

He quoted Guerin as describing to viewers how the IDF "paraded the child in front of the international media," then "produced" the child for reporters, "posed" him a second time for the cameras, and then "rushed him back into a jeep." She then reported that the entire event was under "Israeli army control," which meant that they "were not allowed to get his [the child's] version of events." The report ended with her saying, "This is a picture that Israel wants the world to see." (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 31, 04)

An Israeli spokesman replied, "When the child almost lost his life, we have to ask ourselves, is he being harmed by the showing of his face on French or American television? Unless we talk about it, you won't see any change." Indeed, we might add, few in the world would have believed it if they didn't actually see it.

NO BBC SPECIAL REPORTS ON PALESTINIAN USE OF CHILDREN FOR HUMAN BOMBS

To keep the record straight, the BBC has never run a story about Palestinian use of children - how 29 suicide bombers have been teenagers under 18, taking hundreds of lives with them, and how another 40 children have been arrested who were planning attacks. No studies have been conducted concerning methods of terrorist leaders who often surrounded themselves with children as they attack Israelis so that if Israelis return fire, children would be in harm's way.

Here we have a clear description of modern anti-Semitism in action: First, fierce, raging desire on the part of the Islamic people to destroy Israel by any and all methods, including using children as suicide bombers. Secondly, the international media twisting the truth of what is happening to portray Israel as the epitome of an evil nation.

As one rabbi wrote, "Once again, it is socially acceptable in civilized circles to slur Jews - even more so the Jewish state. The storm clouds that have gathered over the worldwide Jewish community in the past two years are chillingly reminiscent of the period just preceding the Holocaust."

The BBC is continuing a long history of anti-Semitism that has plagued the British people. A recent British poll shows that one out of five Brits are at least mildly anti-Semitic. Israeli commentators have noted that if that poll had replaced the word, "the Jews" with the word "Israel," the negative percentage would have rocketed.

In fact, the hatred of the Jewish people by the so-called Christian nations of the world over the last 1900 years, has severely polluted virtually every country in Eastern and Western Europe as well as the Russian territories. The hatred culminated 56 years ago in the shooting, gassing and starving of 6,000,000 human beings of Jewish heritage. But the Holocaust was only a perfection, a realization of technical advances - of better killing machines than those in the hands of bygone rulers.

Nevertheless, because of the enormity of the atrocities of World War II, the UN found herself, for an instant in time, voting to give the remnant of the Jews who were left a country of their own.

In 1947, the UN actually offered Israel defined borders - a tiny slice of the Holy Land, only a fraction of the original British promise of a homeland for the Jews. But Israel's founding father, David Ben Gurion, accepted the offer. Allah's followers did not, and six Arab nations invaded Israel, to wipe her out, to destroy her, and to throw her into the sea.

The spirits of anti-Semitism then moved their center of operations into the Muslim countries, based on these two Islamic principles.

1. Islam is a territorial religion. Land once occupied by Islamic people, is irrevocably Islamic. Since the Holy Land has been occupied by Islamic people - even though Jews have lived there continuously before and after Islam came into existence - the state of Israel must never be allowed to remain on "Islamic" land.2. Islam's world dominance is inevitable. Her warriors of jihad will conquer all the nations of the world and establish Islam as the world religion. Sharia, the most stringent version of Islamic legal systems would become international law by which the world is ruled.

The establishment of the state of Israel does not in any way fit into Islamic plans. Not at all. Israel is a continuous "bone in the throat" of the Islamic peoples. The ultimate goal of anti-Semitism is and always has been to execute a final solution of the Jewish people and the followers of Allah have now taken up this task.

At present, estimates of the number of Muslims in the European Union range from between 12 to 20 million. In Great Britain, Muslims now constitute the second largest religious community (larger than the Roman Catholics). In France, it is estimated that the Muslim population probably numbers some 6-8 million. (http://www.wjc.org/ Policy Dipatches No. 83, Sept 02)

These millions of Muslims have reawakened the historic European monster of anti-Semitism, which has, again, sprung to life in the last few years - causing enormous fear and great distress among the 1,200,000 Jews living in Europe.

Classic anti-Semitism has morphed into anti-Zionism, meaning anti-Israel. The anti-Semitism of yesterday - the demonization of every individual Jew, has now become the demonization of the corporate Jew, the Jewish nation. Israel is now considered a pariah state that doesn't deserve to exist. Israel is the only state and the Jews the only people that are the object of a standing set of threats from governmental, religious and terrorist bodies seeking their destruction.

Think about this: If the Arabs (Muslims) put down their weapons today there would be no more violence. If the Israelis put down their weapons today there would be no more Israel. (http://www.science.co.il/) But this is the unvarying, endless demand of the nations individually and of the nations corporately in the UN.

Cannot we, as believers, see the spiritual war at work here? How can one explain that 30%, yes 30% of all U.N. resolutions, have been adopted to condemn Israel alone? There are 191 countries in the UN that need attention. Yet, one-third of UN "business" is spent condemning, censuring, castigating and vilifying Israel.Israel - a name that means "striven with God…and prevailed." (Genesis 32:28)Israel - a nation chosen of God to be a light to the nations. (Isaiah 60:1-2)Israel - a land picked out by God to be given solely to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.Israel - who brought the Bible and the Gospel to the world.Israel - through whom the Messiah of the world was born.Israel - of whom God said, "Through you all the nations of the world will be blessed."Israel - of whom God said, "I will bless those who bless you."Israel - of whom God said, "I will curse those who curse you."Israel - of whom her prophets said, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow."Israel - surrounded by enemies with 650 times more land, and 50 times more population.Israel - of whom 60% of Europeans describe her as an important threat to world peace.Here is an eternal truth and terrible reality: If Israel were destroyed, the plan of God for this world would be overthrown.Yeshua the Messiah would have no people to say, "Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord," at his return on the Mount of Olives.

WHEN DEREK PRINCE WAS A BRITISH SOLDIER

Israel has suffered 19,000 attacks by Muslim terrorists in the last three years. Yet the UN has not condemned a single one of the over 110 suicide bomb attacks, not one of the 19,000 attacks against Israel. (http://www.jnewswire.com/ Dec. 17, 03)

We remember Derek Prince telling the story of a conversation he had with a Jew who had come from the death camps of Europe, and who was fighting for Israel's independence in 1947. Derek as a British soldier engaged the young man in conversation. (Derek was one of the few British soldiers who understood God's plan for Israel as outlined in the Bible, and so identified strongly with the Jewish people.)

Derek recalls that this Jewish resident of Jerusalem told him with great feeling, "Our Jewish people have been persecuted by the nations for nearly 2000 years. The reason is because we have been wanderers and strangers in other nations' lands. Soon we will have our own country," he continued. "And then we will see the end of anti-Semitism forever!"

Derek responded, "If anti-Semitism is simply a natural phenomenon from a people being strangers in another's land - as you suggest - then, yes, anti-Semitism will cease to exist. But if this is a spiritual issue, meaning there are spiritual forces fighting for your extinction, then creating a homeland for your people will not result in the cessation of hatred for the Jewish people."

And this is the key: Spiritual forces are at work. A person who does not understand who the god of this world is and his strategy for world domination will be at loss to understand the phenomenon of anti-Semitism.

Satan has, numerous times, attempted to destroy the people of Israel. He could checkmate God, if only he could destroy this one tiny nation. For if one jot or tittle could be proven untrue in the Bible, then God's integrity would be compromised and His justice over the earth finished. Think about Jeremiah 31:36

If this fixed order [of the sun, moon and stars] departs from before Me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever."

But Satan is a loser. Because with every battle, God creates another Queen Esther, another person or people who are ready to put their lives on the line for the Jewish people. Still Satan fights on in his delusions. How else can we explain that the world finds Israel so detestable, so menacing, that the UN, which represents 6.1 billion people, spends almost one-third of all of its time manufacturing resolutions that condemn a nation of just over 5,000,000 Jewish souls! There are no condemnations of massacres and genocides in Sudan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Iran, Syria, to name a few.

This whole thing is not about Israel. It's about God! If Yeshua had been born in Uganda and had promised to return to his people there, the world would be trying to destroy Uganda!

Israel is the key to God's plan for redemption for "whosoever will." The god of this world, who thought he had won the battle when he crucified the Lord, has come back in his incarnated image of Allah, to make one last attempt to take this planet out of the hands of God. Allah hates Israel with all the hatred that Satan has. He can no longer destroy Yeshua, but maybe, just maybe, he can destroy the people that God promised, "Through your seed, all the peoples of the earth will be blessed."

What is God's surprise for the devil this time? Here it is! Christians - the born-again kind - are standing up for Israel and the Jews. Our God is raising up a mighty army that will cry out to God and face the attackers of Israel with fearlessness, doggedness and tenacity.

In the Jewish mind, this is phenomenal, unexplainable and unfathomable! Christians, who for 1800 years, have sorely persecuted the Jewish people? And now the most fundamental, the most Bible-thumping of them all are adamantly, stubbornly, and vociferously standing with Israel!

It is obvious that God has certainly raised up one nation, though far from perfect, to lead the stand with Israel - the United States. In other nations, such as Canada, Great Britain and Brazil there is a faithful remnant of Christians who are praying and crying out to God for Israel's salvation, and for their own nations to be blessed by blessing Israel. We know! They write to us, pray for us and support the work of God to bring the Israeli people back to an intimate relationship with God. Many are also active in organizations that are reaching into the governments of the world, letting the nations know that We Stand With Israel!

FORMER PALESTINIAN TERRORIST NOW LOVES THE GOD OF ISRAELInterview with Walid ShoebatBy Cookie Schwaeber-Issan

Written up in the Jerusalem Post as a terrorist turned Zionist, I didn't quite know what to expect in my conversation with Walid Shoebat, the former Palestinian terrorist who took part in attacks against Israelis in the mid 1970's. But after speaking to him by phone for about an hour in his California home where he lives today with his family, it's clear that a metamorphosis of gargantuan proportions has taken place in the heart of this very unique man.

Shoebat spent his youth in a village outside of Bethlehem and later in Jericho where he was served up a steady diet of hatred for the Jews. He was taught that the Jews had never before had a nation called Israel, and that the Holocaust was only a myth. Participating in anti-Israel activities and demonstrations, he threw stones at rabbis who were at the Western Wall and eventually became part of a Palestinian terrorist group. He actually agreed to carry explosives and execute a terror attack at an Israeli bank but was unable to go through with it as he saw children playing nearby. Yet he continued his terrorist associations and even served time in an Israeli prison for some months. After immigrating to the U.S. at age 18, his activist proclivity continued as he raised funds for the PLO.

It was eventually through the Catholic woman he married, who refused to convert to Islam, that he was challenged to prove that the Jews were liars who had twisted the writings of the Scriptures. This caused him to read the Bible which opened his eyes and caused him to eventually come to faith in the one true God. And then, supernaturally, God placed a deep love in his heart for his erstwhile enemies. Many of his family have disowned him, and death threats are common for him, but Walid is determined to share his love for Israel and the Jewish people to all who will listen.

He identifies himself as a Christian Zionist who stands unashamedly and unwaveringly with the nation of Israel and her people. So in my interview with him, I asked Walid if there had been a special experience which was instrumental in changing his heart and giving him a love for Jewish people.

His immediate response to the question was, "Once I was blind, but now I can see." He related how he felt an immediate sense of peace and joy flooding his heart the moment he accepted Yeshua as his Savior. In a way he cannot explain, all the anger and hostility was replaced instantly. This new love continued to increase as he began to read the Scriptures day and night and see God's plan for the Jewish people and the promises found in the Tanach (his words) concerning the land and their return to it. It was as if scales had fallen off his eyes.

A believing friend, no doubt sent by God to disciple him, helped Walid find direction and fellowship. His love and conviction for Israel and the Jewish people he feels is unexplainable except in supernatural terms. So for him, the best of all explanations is, "Once I was blind but now I can see!"

He also related an experience about the time he was on a return flight from Israel, sitting next to a Jewish woman whose son was in the Israeli army. He said, “I asked her, ‘How do you feel about the fact that your son is going to kill Palestinians?’ She told me that it was her great hope that he would not do such a thing and that her desire, along with so many other Israelis, was for the two people to live in peace." He said, "I could barely comprehend this, because in my mind, I was sure that the Israeli people hated the Palestinians just as much we hated the Jews.” Her words made a great impression on Walid.

I asked him what were his feelings about the fact that Palestinian children are taught from birth to hate the Jews and he related his own childhood experience. He said, “The only songs I was taught as a child contained three words, ‘kill, bomb and shoot’” He continued, “I strongly believe that the heavy spirit of Islam is foretold in Scripture and is specifically seen in the book of Daniel -- that some of the Arab states would form a confederation and flood the world with violence and their form of religious fanaticism." Walid believes that most Christians today are completely ignorant of this fact and do not recognize what is happening. He said, "You have to understand that Moslems are so committed to these things that they actually think they are doing God a service when they kill Jews and others who will not follow Islam." So, for him, the hatred that is being taught to Palestinians from the cradle is something which he sees as having been foretold in Scripture and which is now delivering its poisonous fruit.

Finally, in asking Walid what he feels can be done to bring about peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, he was very definite in his answer. "Peace can only come with justice and truth, and so the faucet of terrorism must be closed. Those creating, designing and promoting it must be stopped. What I see is that nothing short of a complete dismantling of the school system in the Palestinian Authority will bring an end to this. There simply is no other way."

Walid is the epitome of a new creation with a new heart. He says that he loves the Messianic Jewish congregations since they are, he believes, Biblically based and the closest to the genuine and original expression of the faith, as seen in the book of Acts. He told me how he and his family, therefore, celebrate the Jewish holidays, such as Passover, and putting a menorah (9-candle holder) in his window during the festival of Chanukah. His final request to me, upon ending our conversation, was - "Would you please, on my behalf, go outside and kiss the ground of Israel!" I assured him that I would, and this morning, I did. Now this is real Middle East PEACE!

Cookie Schwaeber-Issan is assistant to Ari and Shira Sorko-Ram

___________________________________________________________A Just Solution to the Palestinian Refugee Problem (But not one that the world will accept)

Although there is no easy answer to any refugee problem, there has never been an easier one to solve than that of the Palestinians - who came into existence as a people 25-30 years ago.

Some 800,000 Arabs who fled the Israeli-Arab conflict in 1947-48, mostly at the demand of the invading Arab nations who told the Arabs to temporarily get out while the Arab armies cleansed the land of Jews. 1. These Arab refugees had exactly the same language as all the Arab countries around.2. They ate the same food as do the surrounding Arab peoples.3. They had the same culture.4. They had the same religion.5. They had similar physical features.6. They all preferred the same type of authoritarian type of governments.7. The Arab nations were all sparsely populated, some of them badly needing a larger population to spur economic growth, according to historians. Remember, the Arab nations have 650 times more land area than Israel.8. At the same time, incredibly, almost the exact number of Jews fled Arab lands, forbidden by Arab governments to take any of their possessions or finances with them. A de facto exchange of populations has taken place. (From Time Immemorial, Joan Peters, pg.25)While over 25,000,000 refugees around the world have been resettled in the last 55 years, the Muslim nations refused to allow the Arab refugees who left Israel to be resettled. Israel is the central obstacle interfering with Allah's ambition for world domination. (http://www.amnesty.org/; http://www.news.nationalgeographics.com/)

An Israeli Journalist Meets New Friends(His own story)

Journalist Hillel Halkin sketches the circumstances that could bring about the demise of Israel: "Suicide bombs will not destroy Israel. Only Arab and Muslim armies or - alternatively or complementarily - severe inner demoralization can possibly do that. The creation of such demoralization - and/or of a situation somewhere down the road in which an Israel faced with superior Arab Muslim military force will have no friends left to come to its aid - depends on first delegitimizing this country in the public opinion and political life of Western democracies. And public delegitimization takes place at precisely the point at which a cause has vocal and widely heard critics and no longer has vocal and widely heard supporters.

"An Israel without friends is an Israel that will not ultimately be able to withstand the Arab and Muslim onslaught, which is why it is important to realize that we do have friends. Lots of them…."

Halkin relates that recently in Toronto, he was on a shuttle bus to the airport, when he began talking to the bus driver. This black gentleman with a West-Indian accent from a Pentecostal church, told Halkin how much he loves Israel. And he assured him there are hundreds of others that he knows personally just like himself.

Commenting on that experience, Halkin writes that "there are tens and perhaps hundreds of millions of others like him - in Canada, in America, all over. Evangelical Christians are today the biggest pro-Israel group in the world. And the nicest thing about them is that they do not love us because they hate Muslims…they love us for who we are, or at least for who they think we are."

He continues: "The idea that, after 1,500 years of persecution by Christianity, our biggest allies are now devout Christians - and not only devout Christians but often the most unlettered, unworldly, and unsophisticated of the devout, people with whom we seem to have absolutely nothing in common - is so staggering that we haven't really managed to absorb it yet. There is so much justified suspicion of and anger at Christianity on our part that we don't know how to begin to think of it. But while we're trying to figure it out, we can permit ourselves the satisfaction and gratitude of knowing that such people are out there." (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 26,04)

But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. I magnify my ministry if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead [for all the world.] Romans 11:13-15

May 2004

Dear Maoz Partner,

For the last three months we have invited you to partner with us to send a group of leaders and leaders-in-making from our Tel Aviv Congregation Tiferet Yeshua (The Glory of Yeshua) to a training conference in Colorado. We will also be able to attend another congregation in Oklahoma that is deeply gifted to reach children and youth, and check out the music department of CFNI in Dallas.

Well, we want to tell you with great joy that we have all the funds we need for this project and we are ready to go! We are delighted and thankful to every one of you who has made this study trip possible. We do believe that the knowledge and vision we gain from this trip will mean the difference of a great many people coming into the Kingdom of God.

With more and more Israelis showing deep interest in understanding who Yeshua is, we introduce another opportunity that will be a tremendous vehicle for both evangelism and discipleship in Israel. With the purchase of a DVD/CD duplicating machine (see reverse page), we can reproduce evangelism sermons and discipleship teachings and distribute them freely throughout the land.

If you want to partner with us to evangelize and disciple through CD's and DVD's, we invite you to do so this month! Every gift you send towards this tool will go on and on, producing and distributing the message of the Gospel to our Israeli people!We believe you'll agree - it's a great investment!

For the salvation of Israel,

Ari & Shira Sorko-Ram

P.S. We can't thank you enough for giving us the tools to minister to our Jewish people!

What a way to help Israelis searching for the Truth!

Congregation Tiferet Yeshua, with the help of Maoz and Revive Israel, (Asher Intrater's ministry) now has over 130 valuable Hebrew-language video teaching tapes.

Asher, our elder and co-worker, is the main teacher and one of the most gifted in the Hebrew language in Israel today. These are some of the finest teachings in Hebrew anywhere! The subjects cover the foundational truths of faith in Yeshua the Messiah.

We wish to convert these video's to DVD's (which are much less expensive to duplicate than videos) and distribute them throughout the land of Israel.

Here is what your gift to help us with this project will accomplish:

STEP ONE: purchase a DVD/CD duplicating machine. We already have $4950 toward the $12,000 total cost (including 36% tax). Once we have the duplicating machine, we will be ready to mass produce DVD's and CD's to distribute throughout the Land!

STEP TWO: technically prepare each teaching tape for conversion from video to a DVD. The initial cost for each video will be $77.00 and after that a mere $2.00 for each DVD copy! These DVD Bible courses then can be distributed throughout the country as teaching aids at the disposal of pastors, evangelists, and members of the Messianic community here in Israel.

STEP THREE: duplicate the many Hebrew-language sermons from our weekly Shabbat services that are ideal for giving to non-believers who are interested in knowing more about our faith in Yeshua. With this DVD/CD duplicator, we will be able to duplicate unlimited numbers of CD's for as little as $1.25 per CD. Now, that is good stewardship!

These CD's and DVD's will be wonderful additions to the tools available to the Messianic believers today in Israel. Some of these CD's will be used for giving to friends, acquaintances and relatives - or handed out on the streets to anyone who shows interest in the Messiah of Israel. What wonderful technology God has given us to spread the Word of Life to our people!

Would you like to participate in an outreach in Israel this summer?

Jacob Damkani, a member of our congregation, Tiferet Yeshua, and an Israeli evangelist of 20 years, invites you to come on one of his following evangelism outreaches!

On March 15th of this year, Abdullah Kuran, age 11, was asked to carry several bags through an Israeli checkpoint at the Gaza border and hand them to a woman waiting on the other side for five shekels ($1.00 U.S.) Unaware that one of the bags contained a 10-kilo bomb, he was stopped by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) who discovered it during a routine inspection.

When his handlers (who were watching in the crowds on the Gaza side) saw that the boy had been stopped, they tried to blow him up through a cell phone connected to the bomb, but the bomb failed to explode. The IDF later sent him back to his parents. The officer-in-charge, Lt.-Col. Guy, explained to the media, "We're not going to do anything with a boy like that, an innocent kid trying to earn his daily bread."

Back home, Abdullah now says he does not believe the Israeli army's version, that the bag he was carrying contained explosives. "They are lying," he said. "I never saw a bomb. If the bag really contained a bomb, why did they release me?" A teacher at Kuran's school said the majority of the camp residents are convinced that Israel made up the story. A Palestinian cab driver told the Jerusalem Post, "I think the Israelis planted the bomb there. The Palestinian groups are much more responsible and they would never do such a thing."

Nine days later, at the same checkpoint, Israeli soldiers caught a 14 year-old boy, Husam Abdu, on his way to be a suicide bomber. This time Lt.-Col. Guy told the press, "The boy was fully aware of what he was to do and told us he received NIS 100 ($22.00) and was instructed to blow himself up near soldiers. The IDF's quick action not only saved their own lives but those of 200 Palestinian men, women and children who were at the roadblock." The whole incident was recorded on video.

When questioned, the boy explained why he did it. "They told me suicide is the only chance I've got to have sex with 72 virgins in the Garden of Eden."

Now listen to this! The BBC, reported the incident and accused Israel of abusing the child by letting the media air the attempted suicide.

In fact, the BBC's account was so brutally anti-Israel that Israel's Cabinet Member Natan Sharansky sent a letter to the BBC stating that BBC correspondent, Orla Guerin, employed a "gross double standard to the Jewish State that smacks of anti-Semitism," when she used "an attempted suicide attack by a child to point cynically to Israel's attempt to manipulate the media."

Sharansky wrote the BBC that such an approach "reveals a deep-seated bias against Israel. Only a total identification with the goals and methods of the Palestinian terror group would drive a reporter to paint Israel in such an unflattering light instead of placing the focus on the bomber and the organization that recruited him," he said.

He quoted Guerin as describing to viewers how the IDF "paraded the child in front of the international media," then "produced" the child for reporters, "posed" him a second time for the cameras, and then "rushed him back into a jeep." She then reported that the entire event was under "Israeli army control," which meant that they "were not allowed to get his [the child's] version of events." The report ended with her saying, "This is a picture that Israel wants the world to see." (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 31, 04)

An Israeli spokesman replied, "When the child almost lost his life, we have to ask ourselves, is he being harmed by the showing of his face on French or American television? Unless we talk about it, you won't see any change." Indeed, we might add, few in the world would have believed it if they didn't actually see it.

NO BBC SPECIAL REPORTS ON PALESTINIAN USE OF CHILDREN FOR HUMAN BOMBS

To keep the record straight, the BBC has never run a story about Palestinian use of children - how 29 suicide bombers have been teenagers under 18, taking hundreds of lives with them, and how another 40 children have been arrested who were planning attacks. No studies have been conducted concerning methods of terrorist leaders who often surrounded themselves with children as they attack Israelis so that if Israelis return fire, children would be in harm's way.

Here we have a clear description of modern anti-Semitism in action: First, fierce, raging desire on the part of the Islamic people to destroy Israel by any and all methods, including using children as suicide bombers. Secondly, the international media twisting the truth of what is happening to portray Israel as the epitome of an evil nation.

As one rabbi wrote, "Once again, it is socially acceptable in civilized circles to slur Jews - even more so the Jewish state. The storm clouds that have gathered over the worldwide Jewish community in the past two years are chillingly reminiscent of the period just preceding the Holocaust."

The BBC is continuing a long history of anti-Semitism that has plagued the British people. A recent British poll shows that one out of five Brits are at least mildly anti-Semitic. Israeli commentators have noted that if that poll had replaced the word, "the Jews" with the word "Israel," the negative percentage would have rocketed.

In fact, the hatred of the Jewish people by the so-called Christian nations of the world over the last 1900 years, has severely polluted virtually every country in Eastern and Western Europe as well as the Russian territories. The hatred culminated 56 years ago in the shooting, gassing and starving of 6,000,000 human beings of Jewish heritage. But the Holocaust was only a perfection, a realization of technical advances - of better killing machines than those in the hands of bygone rulers.

Nevertheless, because of the enormity of the atrocities of World War II, the UN found herself, for an instant in time, voting to give the remnant of the Jews who were left a country of their own.

In 1947, the UN actually offered Israel defined borders - a tiny slice of the Holy Land, only a fraction of the original British promise of a homeland for the Jews. But Israel's founding father, David Ben Gurion, accepted the offer. Allah's followers did not, and six Arab nations invaded Israel, to wipe her out, to destroy her, and to throw her into the sea.

The spirits of anti-Semitism then moved their center of operations into the Muslim countries, based on these two Islamic principles.

1. Islam is a territorial religion. Land once occupied by Islamic people, is irrevocably Islamic. Since the Holy Land has been occupied by Islamic people - even though Jews have lived there continuously before and after Islam came into existence - the state of Israel must never be allowed to remain on "Islamic" land.2. Islam's world dominance is inevitable. Her warriors of jihad will conquer all the nations of the world and establish Islam as the world religion. Sharia, the most stringent version of Islamic legal systems would become international law by which the world is ruled.

The establishment of the state of Israel does not in any way fit into Islamic plans. Not at all. Israel is a continuous "bone in the throat" of the Islamic peoples. The ultimate goal of anti-Semitism is and always has been to execute a final solution of the Jewish people and the followers of Allah have now taken up this task.

At present, estimates of the number of Muslims in the European Union range from between 12 to 20 million. In Great Britain, Muslims now constitute the second largest religious community (larger than the Roman Catholics). In France, it is estimated that the Muslim population probably numbers some 6-8 million. (http://www.wjc.org/ Policy Dipatches No. 83, Sept 02)

These millions of Muslims have reawakened the historic European monster of anti-Semitism, which has, again, sprung to life in the last few years - causing enormous fear and great distress among the 1,200,000 Jews living in Europe.

Classic anti-Semitism has morphed into anti-Zionism, meaning anti-Israel. The anti-Semitism of yesterday - the demonization of every individual Jew, has now become the demonization of the corporate Jew, the Jewish nation. Israel is now considered a pariah state that doesn't deserve to exist. Israel is the only state and the Jews the only people that are the object of a standing set of threats from governmental, religious and terrorist bodies seeking their destruction.

Think about this: If the Arabs (Muslims) put down their weapons today there would be no more violence. If the Israelis put down their weapons today there would be no more Israel. (http://www.science.co.il/) But this is the unvarying, endless demand of the nations individually and of the nations corporately in the UN.

Cannot we, as believers, see the spiritual war at work here? How can one explain that 30%, yes 30% of all U.N. resolutions, have been adopted to condemn Israel alone? There are 191 countries in the UN that need attention. Yet, one-third of UN "business" is spent condemning, censuring, castigating and vilifying Israel.Israel - a name that means "striven with God…and prevailed." (Genesis 32:28)Israel - a nation chosen of God to be a light to the nations. (Isaiah 60:1-2)Israel - a land picked out by God to be given solely to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.Israel - who brought the Bible and the Gospel to the world.Israel - through whom the Messiah of the world was born.Israel - of whom God said, "Through you all the nations of the world will be blessed."Israel - of whom God said, "I will bless those who bless you."Israel - of whom God said, "I will curse those who curse you."Israel - of whom her prophets said, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow."Israel - surrounded by enemies with 650 times more land, and 50 times more population.Israel - of whom 60% of Europeans describe her as an important threat to world peace.Here is an eternal truth and terrible reality: If Israel were destroyed, the plan of God for this world would be overthrown.Yeshua the Messiah would have no people to say, "Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord," at his return on the Mount of Olives.

WHEN DEREK PRINCE WAS A BRITISH SOLDIER

Israel has suffered 19,000 attacks by Muslim terrorists in the last three years. Yet the UN has not condemned a single one of the over 110 suicide bomb attacks, not one of the 19,000 attacks against Israel. (http://www.jnewswire.com/ Dec. 17, 03)

We remember Derek Prince telling the story of a conversation he had with a Jew who had come from the death camps of Europe, and who was fighting for Israel's independence in 1947. Derek as a British soldier engaged the young man in conversation. (Derek was one of the few British soldiers who understood God's plan for Israel as outlined in the Bible, and so identified strongly with the Jewish people.)

Derek recalls that this Jewish resident of Jerusalem told him with great feeling, "Our Jewish people have been persecuted by the nations for nearly 2000 years. The reason is because we have been wanderers and strangers in other nations' lands. Soon we will have our own country," he continued. "And then we will see the end of anti-Semitism forever!"

Derek responded, "If anti-Semitism is simply a natural phenomenon from a people being strangers in another's land - as you suggest - then, yes, anti-Semitism will cease to exist. But if this is a spiritual issue, meaning there are spiritual forces fighting for your extinction, then creating a homeland for your people will not result in the cessation of hatred for the Jewish people."

And this is the key: Spiritual forces are at work. A person who does not understand who the god of this world is and his strategy for world domination will be at loss to understand the phenomenon of anti-Semitism.

Satan has, numerous times, attempted to destroy the people of Israel. He could checkmate God, if only he could destroy this one tiny nation. For if one jot or tittle could be proven untrue in the Bible, then God's integrity would be compromised and His justice over the earth finished. Think about Jeremiah 31:36

If this fixed order [of the sun, moon and stars] departs from before Me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever."

But Satan is a loser. Because with every battle, God creates another Queen Esther, another person or people who are ready to put their lives on the line for the Jewish people. Still Satan fights on in his delusions. How else can we explain that the world finds Israel so detestable, so menacing, that the UN, which represents 6.1 billion people, spends almost one-third of all of its time manufacturing resolutions that condemn a nation of just over 5,000,000 Jewish souls! There are no condemnations of massacres and genocides in Sudan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Iran, Syria, to name a few.

This whole thing is not about Israel. It's about God! If Yeshua had been born in Uganda and had promised to return to his people there, the world would be trying to destroy Uganda!

Israel is the key to God's plan for redemption for "whosoever will." The god of this world, who thought he had won the battle when he crucified the Lord, has come back in his incarnated image of Allah, to make one last attempt to take this planet out of the hands of God. Allah hates Israel with all the hatred that Satan has. He can no longer destroy Yeshua, but maybe, just maybe, he can destroy the people that God promised, "Through your seed, all the peoples of the earth will be blessed."

What is God's surprise for the devil this time? Here it is! Christians - the born-again kind - are standing up for Israel and the Jews. Our God is raising up a mighty army that will cry out to God and face the attackers of Israel with fearlessness, doggedness and tenacity.

In the Jewish mind, this is phenomenal, unexplainable and unfathomable! Christians, who for 1800 years, have sorely persecuted the Jewish people? And now the most fundamental, the most Bible-thumping of them all are adamantly, stubbornly, and vociferously standing with Israel!

It is obvious that God has certainly raised up one nation, though far from perfect, to lead the stand with Israel - the United States. In other nations, such as Canada, Great Britain and Brazil there is a faithful remnant of Christians who are praying and crying out to God for Israel's salvation, and for their own nations to be blessed by blessing Israel. We know! They write to us, pray for us and support the work of God to bring the Israeli people back to an intimate relationship with God. Many are also active in organizations that are reaching into the governments of the world, letting the nations know that We Stand With Israel!

FORMER PALESTINIAN TERRORIST NOW LOVES THE GOD OF ISRAELInterview with Walid ShoebatBy Cookie Schwaeber-Issan

Written up in the Jerusalem Post as a terrorist turned Zionist, I didn't quite know what to expect in my conversation with Walid Shoebat, the former Palestinian terrorist who took part in attacks against Israelis in the mid 1970's. But after speaking to him by phone for about an hour in his California home where he lives today with his family, it's clear that a metamorphosis of gargantuan proportions has taken place in the heart of this very unique man.

Shoebat spent his youth in a village outside of Bethlehem and later in Jericho where he was served up a steady diet of hatred for the Jews. He was taught that the Jews had never before had a nation called Israel, and that the Holocaust was only a myth. Participating in anti-Israel activities and demonstrations, he threw stones at rabbis who were at the Western Wall and eventually became part of a Palestinian terrorist group. He actually agreed to carry explosives and execute a terror attack at an Israeli bank but was unable to go through with it as he saw children playing nearby. Yet he continued his terrorist associations and even served time in an Israeli prison for some months. After immigrating to the U.S. at age 18, his activist proclivity continued as he raised funds for the PLO.

It was eventually through the Catholic woman he married, who refused to convert to Islam, that he was challenged to prove that the Jews were liars who had twisted the writings of the Scriptures. This caused him to read the Bible which opened his eyes and caused him to eventually come to faith in the one true God. And then, supernaturally, God placed a deep love in his heart for his erstwhile enemies. Many of his family have disowned him, and death threats are common for him, but Walid is determined to share his love for Israel and the Jewish people to all who will listen.

He identifies himself as a Christian Zionist who stands unashamedly and unwaveringly with the nation of Israel and her people. So in my interview with him, I asked Walid if there had been a special experience which was instrumental in changing his heart and giving him a love for Jewish people.

His immediate response to the question was, "Once I was blind, but now I can see." He related how he felt an immediate sense of peace and joy flooding his heart the moment he accepted Yeshua as his Savior. In a way he cannot explain, all the anger and hostility was replaced instantly. This new love continued to increase as he began to read the Scriptures day and night and see God's plan for the Jewish people and the promises found in the Tanach (his words) concerning the land and their return to it. It was as if scales had fallen off his eyes.

A believing friend, no doubt sent by God to disciple him, helped Walid find direction and fellowship. His love and conviction for Israel and the Jewish people he feels is unexplainable except in supernatural terms. So for him, the best of all explanations is, "Once I was blind but now I can see!"

He also related an experience about the time he was on a return flight from Israel, sitting next to a Jewish woman whose son was in the Israeli army. He said, “I asked her, ‘How do you feel about the fact that your son is going to kill Palestinians?’ She told me that it was her great hope that he would not do such a thing and that her desire, along with so many other Israelis, was for the two people to live in peace." He said, "I could barely comprehend this, because in my mind, I was sure that the Israeli people hated the Palestinians just as much we hated the Jews.” Her words made a great impression on Walid.

I asked him what were his feelings about the fact that Palestinian children are taught from birth to hate the Jews and he related his own childhood experience. He said, “The only songs I was taught as a child contained three words, ‘kill, bomb and shoot’” He continued, “I strongly believe that the heavy spirit of Islam is foretold in Scripture and is specifically seen in the book of Daniel -- that some of the Arab states would form a confederation and flood the world with violence and their form of religious fanaticism." Walid believes that most Christians today are completely ignorant of this fact and do not recognize what is happening. He said, "You have to understand that Moslems are so committed to these things that they actually think they are doing God a service when they kill Jews and others who will not follow Islam." So, for him, the hatred that is being taught to Palestinians from the cradle is something which he sees as having been foretold in Scripture and which is now delivering its poisonous fruit.

Finally, in asking Walid what he feels can be done to bring about peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, he was very definite in his answer. "Peace can only come with justice and truth, and so the faucet of terrorism must be closed. Those creating, designing and promoting it must be stopped. What I see is that nothing short of a complete dismantling of the school system in the Palestinian Authority will bring an end to this. There simply is no other way."

Walid is the epitome of a new creation with a new heart. He says that he loves the Messianic Jewish congregations since they are, he believes, Biblically based and the closest to the genuine and original expression of the faith, as seen in the book of Acts. He told me how he and his family, therefore, celebrate the Jewish holidays, such as Passover, and putting a menorah (9-candle holder) in his window during the festival of Chanukah. His final request to me, upon ending our conversation, was - "Would you please, on my behalf, go outside and kiss the ground of Israel!" I assured him that I would, and this morning, I did. Now this is real Middle East PEACE!

Cookie Schwaeber-Issan is assistant to Ari and Shira Sorko-Ram

___________________________________________________________A Just Solution to the Palestinian Refugee Problem (But not one that the world will accept)

Although there is no easy answer to any refugee problem, there has never been an easier one to solve than that of the Palestinians - who came into existence as a people 25-30 years ago.

Some 800,000 Arabs who fled the Israeli-Arab conflict in 1947-48, mostly at the demand of the invading Arab nations who told the Arabs to temporarily get out while the Arab armies cleansed the land of Jews. 1. These Arab refugees had exactly the same language as all the Arab countries around.2. They ate the same food as do the surrounding Arab peoples.3. They had the same culture.4. They had the same religion.5. They had similar physical features.6. They all preferred the same type of authoritarian type of governments.7. The Arab nations were all sparsely populated, some of them badly needing a larger population to spur economic growth, according to historians. Remember, the Arab nations have 650 times more land area than Israel.8. At the same time, incredibly, almost the exact number of Jews fled Arab lands, forbidden by Arab governments to take any of their possessions or finances with them. A de facto exchange of populations has taken place. (From Time Immemorial, Joan Peters, pg.25)While over 25,000,000 refugees around the world have been resettled in the last 55 years, the Muslim nations refused to allow the Arab refugees who left Israel to be resettled. Israel is the central obstacle interfering with Allah's ambition for world domination. (http://www.amnesty.org/; http://www.news.nationalgeographics.com/)

An Israeli Journalist Meets New Friends(His own story)

Journalist Hillel Halkin sketches the circumstances that could bring about the demise of Israel: "Suicide bombs will not destroy Israel. Only Arab and Muslim armies or - alternatively or complementarily - severe inner demoralization can possibly do that. The creation of such demoralization - and/or of a situation somewhere down the road in which an Israel faced with superior Arab Muslim military force will have no friends left to come to its aid - depends on first delegitimizing this country in the public opinion and political life of Western democracies. And public delegitimization takes place at precisely the point at which a cause has vocal and widely heard critics and no longer has vocal and widely heard supporters.

"An Israel without friends is an Israel that will not ultimately be able to withstand the Arab and Muslim onslaught, which is why it is important to realize that we do have friends. Lots of them…."

Halkin relates that recently in Toronto, he was on a shuttle bus to the airport, when he began talking to the bus driver. This black gentleman with a West-Indian accent from a Pentecostal church, told Halkin how much he loves Israel. And he assured him there are hundreds of others that he knows personally just like himself.

Commenting on that experience, Halkin writes that "there are tens and perhaps hundreds of millions of others like him - in Canada, in America, all over. Evangelical Christians are today the biggest pro-Israel group in the world. And the nicest thing about them is that they do not love us because they hate Muslims…they love us for who we are, or at least for who they think we are."

He continues: "The idea that, after 1,500 years of persecution by Christianity, our biggest allies are now devout Christians - and not only devout Christians but often the most unlettered, unworldly, and unsophisticated of the devout, people with whom we seem to have absolutely nothing in common - is so staggering that we haven't really managed to absorb it yet. There is so much justified suspicion of and anger at Christianity on our part that we don't know how to begin to think of it. But while we're trying to figure it out, we can permit ourselves the satisfaction and gratitude of knowing that such people are out there." (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 26,04)

But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. I magnify my ministry if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead [for all the world.] Romans 11:13-15

May 2004

Dear Maoz Partner,

For the last three months we have invited you to partner with us to send a group of leaders and leaders-in-making from our Tel Aviv Congregation Tiferet Yeshua (The Glory of Yeshua) to a training conference in Colorado. We will also be able to attend another congregation in Oklahoma that is deeply gifted to reach children and youth, and check out the music department of CFNI in Dallas.

Well, we want to tell you with great joy that we have all the funds we need for this project and we are ready to go! We are delighted and thankful to every one of you who has made this study trip possible. We do believe that the knowledge and vision we gain from this trip will mean the difference of a great many people coming into the Kingdom of God.

With more and more Israelis showing deep interest in understanding who Yeshua is, we introduce another opportunity that will be a tremendous vehicle for both evangelism and discipleship in Israel. With the purchase of a DVD/CD duplicating machine (see reverse page), we can reproduce evangelism sermons and discipleship teachings and distribute them freely throughout the land.

If you want to partner with us to evangelize and disciple through CD's and DVD's, we invite you to do so this month! Every gift you send towards this tool will go on and on, producing and distributing the message of the Gospel to our Israeli people!We believe you'll agree - it's a great investment!

For the salvation of Israel,

Ari & Shira Sorko-Ram

P.S. We can't thank you enough for giving us the tools to minister to our Jewish people!

What a way to help Israelis searching for the Truth!

Congregation Tiferet Yeshua, with the help of Maoz and Revive Israel, (Asher Intrater's ministry) now has over 130 valuable Hebrew-language video teaching tapes.

Asher, our elder and co-worker, is the main teacher and one of the most gifted in the Hebrew language in Israel today. These are some of the finest teachings in Hebrew anywhere! The subjects cover the foundational truths of faith in Yeshua the Messiah.

We wish to convert these video's to DVD's (which are much less expensive to duplicate than videos) and distribute them throughout the land of Israel.

Here is what your gift to help us with this project will accomplish:

STEP ONE: purchase a DVD/CD duplicating machine. We already have $4950 toward the $12,000 total cost (including 36% tax). Once we have the duplicating machine, we will be ready to mass produce DVD's and CD's to distribute throughout the Land!

STEP TWO: technically prepare each teaching tape for conversion from video to a DVD. The initial cost for each video will be $77.00 and after that a mere $2.00 for each DVD copy! These DVD Bible courses then can be distributed throughout the country as teaching aids at the disposal of pastors, evangelists, and members of the Messianic community here in Israel.

STEP THREE: duplicate the many Hebrew-language sermons from our weekly Shabbat services that are ideal for giving to non-believers who are interested in knowing more about our faith in Yeshua. With this DVD/CD duplicator, we will be able to duplicate unlimited numbers of CD's for as little as $1.25 per CD. Now, that is good stewardship!

These CD's and DVD's will be wonderful additions to the tools available to the Messianic believers today in Israel. Some of these CD's will be used for giving to friends, acquaintances and relatives - or handed out on the streets to anyone who shows interest in the Messiah of Israel. What wonderful technology God has given us to spread the Word of Life to our people!

Would you like to participate in an outreach in Israel this summer?

Jacob Damkani, a member of our congregation, Tiferet Yeshua, and an Israeli evangelist of 20 years, invites you to come on one of his following evangelism outreaches!